Guilty plea entered and new arrest made in 2019 gang-related murder

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct when Tracy Dickerson was told Austin Richardson had pleaded guilty.

ADRIAN — One man has pleaded guilty to a gang-related murder and another man has been charged with ordering the killing in 2019.

Austin Keith Richardson pleaded guilty Thursday in Lenawee County Circuit Court to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and gang membership felonies in the shooting death of Christopher Dickerson. The 27-year-old from Adrian was charged in April 2019 with open murder, gang membership felonies and weapons offenses. The open murder charge would have allowed a jury to decide the degree of murder, if the case had gone to trial.

Richardson faces up to life in prison with the possibility of parole on the second-degree murder charge. Also, the sentence for the gang membership charge could be served before the murder sentence begins. The gang membership charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The plea agreement does not include a minimum sentence length, Lenawee County Prosecutor Burke Castleberry said Friday. He will have to testify truthfully against the man who was arraigned Friday.

Count Tereso the Almighty Trevino, aka Terry Lynn Trevino, was arraigned Friday in Lenawee County District Court on seven felony charges, including open murder, conspiracy to commit open murder, solicitation of murder, gang membership felonies and weapons offenses.

In an affidavit of probable cause in Trevino’s case file, a Lenawee County sheriff’s detective said he had information that Trevino, 39, ordered Richardson and another man, David Curtis Taylor, to kill Dickerson and that he had information, including Trevino’s clothing and his name, that Trevino is a member of the Latin Counts gang.

Richardson’s case stretched on as it returned to district court for a preliminary examination, then was returned to circuit court for a possible trial. COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings put all trials in circuit court on hold for several months. Proceedings opened up for a while last summer, but then trials were put on hold again during the delta and omicron surges of the virus, which further delayed a trial.

In an unscheduled appearance Thursday in court, Richardson told Circuit Judge Michael R. Olsaver that Dickerson was killed for violating a rule of the Latin Counts by testifying against another Counts member, Lenawee County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jackie Wyse said. He said that Taylor shot and killed Dickerson in a wooded area near Morenci on Jan. 21, 2019.

Dickerson was reported missing by his family shortly thereafter. Taylor led police to his body on Feb. 23, 2019.

Wyse said Richardson showed no emotion as he entered his pleas.

Taylor, 36, testified in Richardson’s preliminary examination in June 2020 that Richardson shot and killed Dickerson. He said there had been discussions among local Latin Counts about what to do about Dickerson having testified against another Counts member who had stabbed him in the back in May 2018 during a fight in an Adrian apartment.

Taylor said he, Richardson and Dickerson had gone into the wooded area in Medina Township on the pretext of stealing guns, drugs and other items from a hunting blind. He said he knew they had the pistol with them but that he did not know that Richardson intended to kill Dickerson.

Taylor has been charged with being an accessory to Dickerson’s murder. He is accused of disposing of the gun. He testified he kept it for a few days, then traded it for meth.

Richardson didn’t say anything Thursday about going to steal from a hunting blind, Wyse said.

Dickerson’s mother, Tracy Dickerson, said Thursday she was unhappy with not being able to witness Richardson’s plea hearing and with being “strung along” in what she viewed as an attempt by law enforcement to investigate Trevino. She said she has watched the circuit court criminal pretrial hearings on YouTube every Wednesday just in case Richardson made an appearance. She said Wyse called her Thursday, but after Richardson entered his pleas.

“I should have definitely been able to be there,” she said. “My god, it’s been over three years.”

“This has been the worst three years of my life,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, Terry Trevino needed to be charged. But at what cost? You are letting the ones that did a first-degree, premeditated murder off on a second-degree.”

Tracy Dickerson also said she has been left out of the plea negotiations.

“I told Castleberry … you don’t want Terry Trevino for what he did to my son. You want Terry Trevino because of what he’s gotten away with and you’ve never been able to get him,” she said.

Castleberry said Friday they are “very pleased” with Richardson’s guilty pleas.

“This is something we’ve been investigating since the day it happened. The investigation is not over,” he said. “… This is an organized, gang-related action and we’ll be investigating it to the fullest.”

No one in particular was targeted by investigators as they began working the case, Castleberry said. Trevino was developed as a suspect as information came in.

"Talk about justice for Chris Dickerson," Castleberry said. "That's justice, is being able to bring all of the people who were involved into court."

Trevino has a lengthy criminal record, including two stints in prison. The first, from July 2002 to October 2013, was on a charge of discharging a firearm at a building. The second was from April 2016 to July 2018 on a charge of being an accessory after the fact to a felony.

During his arraignment Friday in district court, Judge Laura J. Schaedler asked Trevino if he had any questions about the proceeding.

“To be honest, I have tons, but that’s what court proceedings are for,” he said.

Schaedler appointed the Lenawee County Public Defender’s Office to represent Trevino, over his objections and statements that he wanted to represent himself. Schaedler said because of the nature of the charges she wanted someone with a law degree to represent him.

Schaedler became upset with Trevino when he objected repeatedly, saying he had a right to represent himself. At one point when Trevino, who appeared by video from the Lenawee County Jail where he is being held on a $10,600,000 bond, would not follow her instructions to be quiet, Schaedler yelled, “Mr. Trevino!”

“You can yell all you want,” Trevino said. “I don’t know why you’re yelling.”

Schaedler muted Trevino’s microphone so she could conclude the arraignment.

A probable cause conference is scheduled for April 15 and and preliminary examination is set for April 21.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Guilty plea entered, new arrest made in 2019 gang-related murder